Vintages Produced (for the V.P.): 2022, 2021, 2020, 2016, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996 (the last two vintages were labelled Chalice)
Tawny (non vintage) : Released in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2020 and 2024 (750mL)
(750ml, gold screw cap)
Following three V.P. releases in a row, it’s good to have the Tawny port back again in 2024. This is quite a different wine to the V.P. Produced from fortified estate grown Grenache matured for an average of 15 years in barrel, the Tawny has a caramel brown colour and an aroma full of nuts, toffee and raisins. It tastes rich and sweet but finishes clean and not cloying. There’s an intense and quite refined flavour. It’s ready for sipping straight from the fridge as an aperitif in summer (makes me feel very European) or can be enjoyed on a cool winter afternoon or evening with fresh walnuts or sultana and rum shortbread biscuits. A real treat.
(750ml, gold screw cap)
Produced from 100% Shiraz from the Borrett’s Hedge Block vineyard in Langhorne Creek. Very deep red in colour (be careful when wearing white clothes!). Rich and full of fruit flavour, this takes the intensity and structure up a notch on last year’s wine. It finishes particularly clean and long. We’ve been enjoying a glass of VP served cool as an aperitif whilst preparing the evening meal and sometimes when I’m talking and not focused on the wine it catches me by surprise, commanding attention. It’s delicious, especially when you’re hungry! I like it with a small bowl of dry roasted almonds (available in the supermarkets from Australian almonds). It’s also great with hard cheeses after the meal of course. Drink now-2042+. 18.2% alc.
(750ml, gold screw cap)
Produced from Shiraz from the Borrett's Hedge Block vineyard in Langhorne Creek. This wine is very deep red in colour as you would expect. Rich and as fruity as a fruit cake with all of the spices. It's just delicious and it makes me wonder why we don't drink more of this style of red these days... something to do with the pace of life I suppose. Make time for this wine and you'll be glad you did. It's great served cold as an aperitif while young or at any age with hard cheeses. The 500mL bottle that we had been using for the Tawny and V.P. was not available this year due to COVID issues disrupting the supply chain. Consequently, we used a 750mL bottle which is finished with a gold cap for the first time so that it will be easier to distinguish from our dry reds. Drink anytime from now until 2040 if you have a cool cellar.
(500ml, screw cap)
Produced as a one-off from our Almond Block Graciano (85%) and Mataro (15%). The fruit on our little bush vines this year ripened quickly to a high sugar level and looked perfect for VP production so we didn’t hesitate! With the addition of some quality brandy spirit and utilising Graciano’s natural acidity, this has produced a vibrant, almost refreshing fortified wine of unusual finesse. It’s fruity and delicious to drink now and will mature beautifully over many years if you’re patient. Delightful with matured cheese or just by itself as an aperitif!
(500ml, screw cap)
The previous vintage to this VP was made in 2006! A long time to wait...
Produced from 100% Shiraz grown on the ‘Hedge Block’ at Langhorne Creek by the Borrett family. Conditions during the latter part of harvest this year were ideal for late picked wine and so we seized the opportunity to produce this VP. Dark, rich and inviting, with a palate full of flavour but not too sweet, it is enjoyable chilled as an aperitif or with food such as matured hard cheeses or 70%+ dark chocolate. The V.P can be cellared for many years but it’s also terrific to drink young. Drink this now-2036
Note that vintages prior to 2016 were produced from our McLaren Vale Grenache.
(500ml, cork)
Tasting note: Medium-deep red in colour with a strong purple hue. Lovely nose of sweet plum jam, ripe strawberries, red currant jelly and spices (vanilla and clove). The palate is very refined and elegant (typical of 2006) yet intense and very long in flavour. The finish lasts for over a minute! Richly sweet, balanced by perfect acid/tannin to provide a silky smooth mouthfeel. Excellent, refined V.P., with less power than the 2005 but more elegance. Produced from 100% McLaren Vale Grenache.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
(500ml, cork)
Tasting note from soon after release: The wine is very deep red in colour. Lovely aromas of ripe blackberry fruit and it appears young and intense at this early stage of its life. A very good young V.P. produced from 100% Grenache.
One of my favourite of the early VPs.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
(500ml, cork)
100% Grenache. It has a complex and attractive nose showing a lot of rich, dark fruits. The palate is focused and pure, showing sweet fruits balanced by a near perfect marriage of acid, tannin and brandy spirit. Very good length of flavour. Simply, a good V.P. with plenty of potential for bottle ageing.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
**NOT MADE due to insufficient grapes available in this very small vintage.
(500ml, cork)
Last tasted: April 2007 as part of a V.P. vertical line up. Impressive colour – very deep (much deeper than the 2001) and still holding a purple hue. A terrific nose of blackberries and red currants along with some floral notes (violets) and licorice. Smells complex and inviting. It is a powerful and youthful wine packed with sweet fruit and is reminiscent of a younger version of the 1998. An outstanding V.P.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
(500ml, cork)
Last tasted: April 2007 as part of a V.P. vertical line up. Excellent cork. This wine displays a medium red colour with some orange hues showing development. The nose shows some bottle aged characters, with cinnamon, cherry jam and caramel notes. There is a lovely ripe sweetness of fruit on the palate that is well balanced by the brandy spirit which gives a dry finish. This wine has excellent length and shows a warm year opulence and ripeness about it, in similar fashion to the 1997 V.P.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
**NOT MADE due to unsuitable weather conditions.
(500ml, cork)
Last tasted: April 2007 as part of a V.P. vertical line up. Excellent cork. Very little sediment in the bottle. The colour is a medium-deep red, with orange hues. The nose shows quite a lot of bottle development (particularly in contrast to the 1998) with caramel, stewed apricots, dried plums and malt. The palate has lovely sweet fruit of good depth and finishes long, with quite a firm tannin.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
(500ml, cork)
Last tasted: April 2007 as part of a V.P. vertical line up. There was a lot of sediment in the bottle upon pouring so decanting prior to serving is recommended. The colour of this wine is much more purple and less developed than the 1996, 1997 or 1999 V.P.’s. The nose is relatively young and undeveloped, still with lots of plum jam fruit aromas. A powerful palate, with big ripe plum and berry flavours that are balanced by strong tannins and complex brandy on the finish. This is a big, strapping V.P. that comes across as intense and drier in style.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
(500ml, cork) we changed the name to V.P. from the 1998 release onwards
Last tasted: 16th of May 2011. The colour was medium to deep red with a tawny brown hue to the edge. This wine has thrown quite a deal of sediment in bottle with ageing. Decant before serving. The wine is very expressive to taste, all sweet fruit, dominated by sultana, dried apricot and liqueur cherry. It has lovely ripeness rather than sugar sweetness that gives the palate an opulent fullness. There is excellent length of flavour and the brandy spirit leaves the finish nicely dry with good length and persistence.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
(500ml, cork) we changed the name to V.P. from the 1998 release onwards
Last tasted: April 2007 as part of a V.P. vertical line up. Only the 1996 and 1997 releases were labelled Chalice, a name which we were not able to trademark as it was already being used by another winery, unknown to us when we first began using it. In the glass, the wine shows a medium-deep colour with some tawny hues at the rim. The nose offers blackberry and prune aromas, with a hint of licorice. Quite sweet, with good depth of flavour and some nice brandy spirit showing on the finish. Not the most concentrated of our V.P.s but an attractive medium-weight wine.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
(dad's old burgundy label with tasting glass)
Last noted: 16th of September 2009. Medium deep in colour with some brick hues to it, expected for a wine of this age. The nose was lovely and fragrant in a sweet red berry and spice way, along with a touch of brandy spirit. The palate was delicious, with lovely depth and balance.
Optimum drinking time: now fully mature but may be drinking well for many years to come with a good cork and good cellaring. Decant upon opening to leave any sediment behind.
In good vintages, when the quality is high and the quantity allows, we produce either a Tawny or V.P. naturally sweet, fortified red wine (or ‘port’ as it used to be known*).
The V.P. is a single vintage wine, bottled after 18 months maturation in barrel and well-suited to further bottle ageing. The Tawny is a blend of older vintages which have been matured in barrel in partial contact with the air for many years (the average age of the blend is 15 years) and it is ready to consume on release.
To maintain an average age of 15 years for the Tawny, we release it only every few years. We release a V.P. in the other years or whenever the season allows. Some years there is no fortified wine released.
Many of our V.P. customers like to cellar this wine and at 10+ years old it is rich and smooth. However we do not discourage our more enthusiastic (typically younger) consumers from drinking their V.P. early as it is also delicious as a young wine. For some it is their entry point to drinking dry reds.
*Historically in Australia, these would have been described as ‘Port’ wines but out of respect for the long standing use of this term in the wider world to describe the fortified wines of the Douro Valley in Portugal, we have stopped labelling them with the word Port.
Further information on cellaring, individual vintages and how they are drinking is available by clicking on the “Tasting Notes” button.
Varietal Composition
These days, we produce the V.P. from Langhorne Creek Shiraz (except in 2020 when we used our Graciano) and the Tawny is produced from McLaren Vale Grenache.
Early VPs produced prior to 2007 were made with our Grenache.
Food Matching Suggestions
For V.P., try it with a platter of matured cheddar or other flavoursome hard cheeses such as Emmental, Gruyere, or Tilsit. Dried fruits or dried fruit cake (alone or with chocolate in the style of Panforté) is also a delicious accompaniment.
For Tawny, try it with the finest quality walnuts you can find or plain cakes like Madeira cake. Really delicious.
As an aside, whilst working the harvest in Bordeaux in 1992 I picked up the habit of drinking a small glass of chilled Port (from the fridge) as an aperitif. The cold serving temperature reduces the sweetness and the sugar feeds your appetite whilst you prepare for, or prepare, the evening meal. It works very well!
The Vineyard
When a warm, dry autumn and an adequate crop allows, the grapes for our Tawny are picked by hand late in the season, from the old bush vine Grenache vineyards surrounding our house and winery in McLaren Vale.
In other such years, we select the best Shiraz block on the Borrett’s vineyard at Langhorne Creek to be left out to ripen until the berries start to shrivel slightly before harvesting to produce a V.P.
Winemaking
We produce the V.P. from Langhorne Creek Shiraz (except in 2020 when we used our Graciano) and the Tawny is produced from McLaren Vale Grenache.
Fermentation takes place in small open vats which are regularly hand plunged to extract colour and tannins from the grape seeds and skins. Around two-thirds of the way through fermentation, the grapes are pressed and the still naturally sweet juice is fortified with brandy spirit to around 18-19 % alcohol. The wine is then matured for 18 months (in the case of the V.P.) or for around 15 years (in the case of the Tawny) in small oak barrels before bottling. The wine is fermented, matured and bottled on the estate.
AVERAGE PRODUCTION
120 dozen (750mL) per release.
Usually 1 to 2 bottle per customer maximum for mailing list members.
Noon Winery supports the responsible service of alcohol. It is against the law to sell or supply alcohol to, or obtain alcohol on behalf of, a person under the age of 18 years.
SA Liquor Licensing Act 1997, Section 113. Liquor Must Not Be Supplied To Persons Under 18.